The present invention relates to financial document processing systems, and is particularly directed to a method of operating a financial document processing system, such as an image-based check processing system, during exception recovery.
A typical image-based check processing system includes a check processing transport which has a document transport path and a number of different hardware devices lying along the document transport path for performing specific document processing operations on documents moving downstream along the document transport path. The check processing system also includes a transport processor which executes a transport application program which is stored in memory to control operation of the devices lying along the document transport path and thereby to control operation of the check processing transport.
From time to time, an exception condition may occur while processing documents on the check processing transport. Exception conditions include document jams, hardware failures, application errors, media low or empty, a pocket full, for examples. Typically, when an exception condition occurs, any documents in the document transport path that have not been completely processed are manually located by an operator and removed from the document transport path. To avoid problems further downstream, the operator must ensure that all checks which have not been completely processed are removed from the document transport path. Once the problem that caused the exception is resolved, the operator must reprocess the documents in their original order.
In known transport application programs, codeline matching programs are typically used to assist operators in organizing the removed documents in their original order. In these codeline matching programs, a codeline is usually parsed into fields so that any encoded data string which has been added to an original codeline can be more easily handled. Also, any variability in positioning of data in a codeline can be more easily handled when the codeline is parsed into fields. A disadvantage in using a codeline matching program which parses a codeline into fields is that each codeline matching program is dependent upon a specific transport application program and cannot be used in other transport application programs unless programming changes are incorporated into that particular codeline matching program. Such programming changes are usually time-consuming and relatively costly to incorporate. It would be desirable to provide a codeline matching program which is independent of any particular transport application program and which can be used in a number of different transport application programs without requiring any programming changes to the codeline matching program.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method of operating a financial document processing system during exception recovery comprises the steps of (a) obtaining an original codeline associated with a financial document, (b) obtaining a recovery codeline associated the financial document, (c) stripping any blank spaces from the original codeline to provide a stripped original codeline, (d) stripping any blank spaces from the recovery codeline to provide a stripped recovery codeline, and (e) comparing a number of characters of the stripped recovery codeline and a number of characters of the stripped original codeline to determine if there is a match between the original codeline and the recovery codeline. Preferably, the method further comprises the steps of (f) obtaining an encoded data string associated with the financial document, (g) stripping any blank spaces from the encoded data string to provide a stripped encoded data string, and (h) comparing a number of characters of the stripped recovery codeline with a number of characters of the stripped encoded data string when there is a mismatch of characters between the stripped recovery codeline and the stripped original codeline in step (e) to determine if there is a match between the original codeline/encoded data string and the recovery codeline.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a financial document processing system is provided for processing a financial document. The financial document processing system comprises means for (i) obtaining an original codeline associated with the financial document, and (ii) obtaining a recovery codeline associated the financial document. Means is provided for (i) stripping any blank spaces from the original codeline to provide a stripped original codeline, and (ii) stripping any blank spaces from the recovery codeline to provide a stripped recovery codeline. Means is provided for comparing a number of characters of the stripped recovery codeline and a number of characters of the stripped original codeline to determine if there is a match between the original codeline and the recovery codeline. Preferably, the financial document processing system further comprises (i) means for obtaining an encoded data string associated with the financial document, (ii) means for stripping any blank spaces from the encoded data string to provide a stripped encoded data string, and (iii) means for comparing a number of characters of the stripped recovery codeline with a number of characters of the stripped encoded data string when there is a mismatch of characters between the stripped recovery codeline and the stripped original codeline to determine if there is a match between the original codeline/encoded data string and the recovery codeline.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a program storage medium readable by a computer having a memory is provided. The medium tangibly embodies one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for operating a financial document processing system during exception recovery. The method comprises the steps of (a) obtaining an original codeline associated with a financial document, (b) obtaining a recovery codeline associated the financial document, (c) stripping any blank spaces from the original codeline to provide a stripped original codeline, (d) stripping any blank spaces from the recovery codeline to provide a stripped recovery codeline, and (e) comparing a number of characters of the stripped recovery codeline and a number of characters of the stripped original codeline to determine if there is a match between the original codeline and the recovery codeline. The method may also comprise the steps of (f) obtaining an encoded data string associated with the financial document, (g) stripping any blank spaces from the encoded data string to provide a stripped encoded data string, and (h) comparing a number of characters of the stripped recovery codeline with a number of characters of the stripped encoded data string when there is a mismatch of characters between the stripped recovery codeline and the stripped original codeline in step (e) to determine if there is a match between the original codeline/encoded data string and the recovery codeline.